Epsilon Data Management agrees to pay $150M to settle mass mailer charges

WESTMINSTER — Epsilon Data Management LLC, a marketing firm with a large presence in Westminster, has agreed to pay $150 million after being charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with pushing fraudulent schemes toward the elderly.

In a joint statement Wednesday afternoon from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado and the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection branch, the Irving, Texas-based Epsilon will close out the single charge of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud with the fine.

The case was prosecuted in Colorado.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Business Cares: April 2024

In Colorado, 1 in 3 women, 1 in 3 men and 1 in 2 transgender individuals will experience an attempted or completed sexual assault in their lifetime. During April, we recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month with the hopes of increasing conversations about this very important issue.

The company admitted to using its data modelling systems to create lists of people likely to respond to groups that fraudulently sent out mass mailers saying the recipients had won sweepstakes or soliciting personalized astrology predictions from 2008 to 2017. In both cases, the recipients had to pay a fee to unlock their prize winnings or services, and neither service was real.

The majority of the 30 million people who were included on the mailing lists were determined to be elderly or have some other vulnerability to fraudulent schemes. 

“By allowing clients engaged in fraudulent schemes to buy data on millions of consumers most susceptible to their schemes, Epsilon employees facilitated those schemes with staggering effect,” Brian Boynton, an acting assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division, said in a statement.

Approximately $127.5 million of Epsilon’s fine is set aside as restitution to victims. The company is also required to add safeguards to prevent fraudsters from acquiring its data and to allow people to opt out of their data being sold.

© 2021 BizWest Media LLC